External Auth

Purpose

The External Auth extension allows you to add additional authorization logic in Seismic for users accessing external services and content. This is commonly used in conjunction with other extension points

Common use cases include:

Login flow for accessing content surfaces through the Searchextension
Related Training
External content in DocList (pages widget)

App Prerequisites

Your app needs to engage with an extension that will interact with this External Auth extension. Today these are:

How it works

High level flow

Based on a user click, Seismic is directed to an external piece of content via Search or an external platform via Main Nav
Seismic will prompt the user to sign into your external service though a click or a pop-up dialogue, based on your configuration
When the user is authenticated, they are able to access the external content or platform

When it's triggered

When a user clicks on a Main Nav icon that routes to an external service
When a user clicks on a piece of external content that has been exposed via Search or deep-linked in Seismic Pages
- You can refer to this diagram that shows the authentication flow in the context of accessing external content through the Search extension

Security & Authentication

It is recommended to validate the Signing Secret in the POST request that Seismic is making

How to Configure

Configure the External Auth Extension Point

Add the External Auth Extension to your application as described here
Configure the fields for this extension, please refer to the table below for definitions and notes
Make sure to enable the extension point and click Save Changes

Field name	Data type	Description	Notes
Extension Instance Name	string	The name by which this extension point is identified	Visible to tenant admins that install your app
401 Response	checkbox	Is your auth endpoint going to return a 401 response if the user is not authenticated?
Auth Endpoint	url	The endpoint that will be displayed when your user receives a 401 error from your system
Auth Pop out	checkbox	launches a separate window for auth, instead of a pop-up	Useful for pop-up blockers

Troubleshooting

Ensure your app is configured with a signing secret
Ensure the extension point is enabled within your app
Ensure the URL to receive the POST request is publicly accessible